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Previous Tour Highlights

from FONT's Birding & Nature Tours
in  CHILE

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During our November 2007 Chile tour,
we saw over a dozen Andean Condors fly by in procession.
In all during the tour, we saw from 15 to 20. 

CHILE
November 2007

The following narrative of the tour was written by Armas Hill, the tour leader:

As it nearly always is, the pelagic trip offshore from Valparaiso that was part of our November 2007 FONT birding & nature tour in Chile, was a highlight. 
We were, as usual, out at sea for about 4 hours in the morning.  During that entire time, there were seabirds in view, including shearwaters, petrels, giant-petrels, storm-petrels, pelicans, gulls, terns, boobies, and phalaropes.
The last of these, the Red Phalaropes, were not attracted to the "chum" that brought most of the other birds in close to the boat, but yet there were many phalaropes near us during the trip. We estimated well over a thousand of them.  
  
During that boat-trip, on November 23, 2007, the best of the seabirds were 2 Northern Royal Albatrosses. Both seen sitting on the water very close to us. Those large albatrosses, so big, even seemed to dwarf the other 3 species of Albatrosses that, during the trip, were either on the water or flying by us in the air: the Black-browed, the Buller's, and the Salvin's. 

The wingspan of the Northern Royal Albatross is as much as 138 inches (that's 11.5 feet, or nearly 6 feet per wing!) Wow, what a bird to see as we did! 
The plumages of the 2 individuals were a bit different; one was an adult, and the other nearly so. 
The wingspan of the Salvin's Albatross is 98 inches. That of the Black-browed is 88 inches; the Buller's is 83 inches. So, these wingspans (of the albatrosses also known as "Mollymawks") are in the realm of 7 to 8 feet in length - that is each wing being from about 3.5 to 4 feet long.

Those albatross-wings enabled the birds to fly a long way. 3 of our 4 albatross species flew from New Zealand breeding sites to the offshore Chilean waters where we saw them. Our offshore trip was a couple hours out, and a couple hours back to land. 
It's 9.647 kilometers (one-way) from New Zealand to Chile. For those of us who flew by jet from North America to Chile, as a comparison, it's 6,959 kilometers (one-way) from New York.
The 3 species of albatrosses that crossed the Pacific (the Northern Royal, the Salvin's, and the Buller's) traveled further to see us than we did to see them (referring to our flights in planes from places such as Texas and Pennsylvania). And, yes, those albatrosses certainly did see us too, as our "chum" was tossed from the boat, attracting the oceanic birds by scent from miles around.

The Northern Royal Albatross, Diomedea sanfordi, is a rare bird, with a total population of only about 7,000 pairs. As just noted, the birds we saw came from New Zealand breeding sites. 
Actually, New Zealand is the ONLY place where the Northern Royal Albatross breeds, and in New Zealand, 99 per cent of the total breed ONLY on the Chatham Islands. 

In 1985, a severe storm hit the breeding sites on the Chathams, reducing soil cover and destroying all of the vegetation. Since then, nests there have been built with stones, or eggs have been laid on bare rock. Unfortunately, as a result, mean annual productivity has plummeted to 18 per cent of what it had been, due to egg breakage, high temperatures, and flooding in temporary pools. The species has been recently, and continues to be, monitored carefully.
We can only hope that things improve so that the wonderful sightings we've had of the royal albatrosses off Chile continue in the years ahead. 

Another scourge has been affecting albatrosses, overall, of various species. Every year, during the last couple decades, thousands of albatrosses have fallen victims to long-line fishing hooks, subsequently drowning. It's been written that as many as 100,000 albatrosses have succumbed to this annually. 

Naturally, without many predators, albatrosses live a long time - up to 60 years. But the impact of their decline during the last 20 years has notably dramatic. 

Of all the birds of the world now been categorized as threatened (and unfortunately now there are many), the group in recent years with the biggest increase of endangered and threatened species have been the seabirds.

FONT has been conducting pelagic trips off the Chilean coast of South America since 1990. And, in general terms, our data has shown that the number of albatrosses seen in those waters, since then, has decreased. There's some variation due to factors such as "El Nino" & "La Nina" waters, but, as said, in general, numbers in the last few years  have been lower than they were a decade ago.

There's a link following this narrative to the Birdlife International website, relating to the recent decline in albatrosses & other seabirds due to long-line fishing. It's worth taking a look.         

Another comment worth making regarding birds we saw offshore (and along the Chilean shore) is they come there from such a variety of places. 
The cool waters of the Humboldt Current are a draw not just for the albatrosses that come across the wide Pacific from New Zealand, but for some other long-distance travelers as well. 
The Red Phalaropes, that have been mentioned, come from the far-northern reaches of the Northern Hemisphere where they nested. 
The Sooty Shearwaters and Wilson's Storm Petrels came from further south in the Pacific. 
The Franklin's Gulls, that were numerous out over the salt water of the Pacific came from fresh-water marshes and ponds in the interior of Canada and the US. That species undergoes quite a transition in terms of seasonal habitat. 
The Surfbirds, along the rocky seacoast, that we enjoyed so much watching on the rocks, came from Alaska, where they nest high in the mountains far away from the sea. Surfbirds, by the way, were not found to nest there until well into the 20th century, in 1926.                               

During the portion our November '07 Chile Tour on land, here was another wonderful encounter with a bird that's "big". One of the biggest of American birds that soar in the sky, it was the Andean Condor, with as a wingspan of up to 122 inches. That's over 10 feet. 
The Andean Mountains, that were such a majestic backdrop as watched the condors, were also big. 
But still, how impressive it was to see a dozen condors, fly by as if in a procession between us and the mountain, one after the other, all gliding from right to left. The grouping was a mix of adult and immature birds. 

Another large bird, actually with "Giant" in its name,  has already been alluded to in this narrative. It's the Southern Giant Petrel, with a wingspan of 81 inches (almost as long as that of the Buller's Albatross - and almost as long as that of another of our "biggies", the Peruvian Pelican which has wingspan of 90 inches). 

And in the mountains, we saw another bird named "Giant". With a length of up to 9 inches, it was the Giant Hummingbird, the largest of the approximately 320 species in that family (which is, by the way, the second largest of bird families in the Americas, and which contains, at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Giant Hummingbird, a bird, in Cuba, that's the smallest in the world).

During our November 2007 tour in central Chile, we saw over 125 species of birds. 
Mentioned here already have been just a few of those we saw. 
Other highlights during our tour included: 
Torrent Duck in a raging Andean river, 
Humboldt Penguin, Gray Gull, and Inca Tern along the Chilean seacoast, 
Cocoi Heron (a species common other places in South America, but not so in Chile), 
and these: 
Cinereous Harrier, Gray-breasted Seedsnipe, White-sided Hillstar, Crag Chilia, Moustached Turca, Rufous-tailed Plantcutter, Many-colored Rush Tyrant, and the Spectacled Tyrant.       

We enjoyed very much our sighting of a male Torrent Duck, in the Andes southeast of Santiago. The species ranges throughout much of that long range of mountains. The subspecies in central Chile is the southernmost of 6. 
Where we saw that subspecies in central Chile, is the northernmost part of its range. There's a gap between that southernmost subspecies (the nominate), and the other subspecies further north.
Torrent Ducks are confined to fast-flowing rivers and streams - in waters so swift that one might think no duck, or any bird, could function there. But they are truly marvelous swimmers and divers. Not only are they capable of swimming against the fastest currents, but they can also remain surprisingly stationary in such waters. In the midst of the raging torrents, they dive and swim close to the bottom, to reappear on the steep side of the next rock or boulder, and then they stand there as if oblivious to the rushing waters swirling around them. Observing such behavior by the male we saw, we can only watch and wonder how the bird does it!     

Turning away from the fast-flowing river below us, to a cliff-face on the other side of a dirt road, there was, above us, the Crag Chilia. That bird's nifty name is quite appropriate as it's one that's endemic to Chile. Superficially similar to a Canyon Wren (but without the wonderful song), the bird is an inhabitant of crevices and crags on cliffs. We observed one repeatedly taking food into a crevice for its young.

The Moustached Turca was another Chilean endemic bird that we enjoyed watching. Sometimes it would be in a bush, but usually it was on the ground, where it would rapidly run and then abruptly stop, with its short tail always cocked. 
The bird is in the tribe of tapaculos, a group well represented in Chile. Among the tapaculos, the turca is generally the easiest to see. 

Moustached Turca

Other birds on the ground, for us, at various elevations in the Andes, included: California Quail, Gray-breasted Seedsnipe, South American Snipe, and Baird's Sandpiper.

The California Quail was introduced in Chile over a hundred years ago, in 1870. Today, it's said that there are more California Quail in Chile than there are in its native range. We saw many.       

Gray-breasted Seedsnipe are nice birds to see. There are 4 species of seedsnipes (a unique family), all of them in the Andes. 
One of the Gray-breasted Seedsnipe sightings, during our November '07 tour, was especially nice. A short distance away, on the ground, in front of a rock, there was a fluffy little bird. In binoculars, it was seen to be a very young seedsnipe. It stood still there for a while, before running into a cavity beneath the rock.   

The South American Snipe that we saw, on the ground, also stood very still, by the edge of a little pond. We saw it outside the windows of our vehicle. As we moved closer to the bird, it stayed there, remaining as still as could be. 
We backed the vehicle up a bit, and then drove away, before hearing a Dusky Tapaculo call in the rocks in the background, as a pair of Speckled Teal was at the far end of the pond. 
On the opposite side of the road, where we stepped out of the vehicle, to enjoy a look at a Crested Duck, there were, along a mountain stream, some Baird's Sandpipers. They had come from North America, as we did, but for them it was to spend another summer, in the Southern Hemisphere. The Baird's Sandpiper is a common bird of the summer of the Southern Hemisphere in the High Andes.    

Yet a couple more birds that we saw in the Andes should be mentioned. 
The hummingbird, called the White-sided Hillstar, was good to see. Of course, hummingbirds, anywhere, are good birds to see. But it's fascinating how some species of hummingbirds live high in the Andes. The Hillstars that we saw were at flowering plants by a "refugio", a place to stay and eat, high in the mountains. Years ago (in the early 1990's) we stayed there during our tours. It was good to visit the picturesque place again. And, it was particularly good, as we saw the hummingbirds there on the grounds. 

The Rufous-tailed Plantcutter is in a rather off-beat family of 3 species, related to cotingas. 
Widespread in Chile, the plantcutter occurs from the sea up into mountains. During previous tours, we've seen the bird in bushes by dunes along the seacoast. For us, in Nov '07, however, it was as high as we've ever found it, up in the Andes, at an elevation of over 8,000 feet above sea level.

Some birds that we saw in central Chile in November '07 were "new" for us in that region of the country. 
Among them, was the Cocoi Heron, at a marsh near Santiago. 
During our previous Chile tours, we've seen the bird only in the southern part of the country, north of the "Lake District". In Nov '07, we saw a total of 4 at a place where we've birded many times in the past. But the next day, when we visited the place again, the species was not to be seen. 
The Cocoi Heron is rather like the Great Blue Heron, but with a white neck. It's larger than the Great Blue Heron. In fact, it's the largest of the herons in the Americas. 

Cocoi Heron

Another "new bird" for us in central Chile was the Cinereous Harrier. We were fortunate to see a fine, adult male, flying in front of us, above rolling fields. 

And yet another bird "new" for us for central Chile, during this, our 17th tour there, was the Spectacled Tyrant, a flycatcher. We nicely saw both males and females, at two locations. The male, all-black, with a bright yellow eye-ring and bill, perches high up on reeds.

Within reeds, there was one of our favorite birds of the tour. It was another flycatcher, a smaller one. 
In English, its name is the Many-colored Rush Tyrant. In Spanish, it's called "Siete Colores", meaningr "Seven Colors". Even smaller than a House Wren, it's just as restless and agile. It flits endlessly, always in a reedbed, from rush to rush. The bird half jumps and half flies from reed to reed, and then balances itself on an individual stem with consumate ease. The tiny, vivacious sprite that's forever on the move, also continuously changes position in order to better show off its multi-hued plumage that's a veritable symphony of black, bronze, green, yellow, crimson, red, and white. (And, yes, that's seven colors.)     
The Many-colored Rush Tyrant was one of the nicest birds we saw.

A couple birds we did not see during our November '07 tour in central Chile, that we have in the past, were the Diademed Plover and the South American Painted Snipe.
The Diademed Plover, a bird of the high Andes, has not been found in recent years, at the single location near Santiago, that's been good for it in the past. When we were at that place in Nov '07, it seemed as if too many people were there, either in recreational vehicles, or camping at the particular place that was known for the species since the 1950's.
The marsh, where the Painted Snipe has been for us previously, was, this year, too dry.

So, we won't dwell on what wasn't there, but rather we'll remember the birds that we did see, including the wonderful ones that have been mentioned here. 

As noted, over 125 species of birds were seen during our tour in central Chile in 2007.  It was, as also mentioned, our 17th FONT tour in Chile. The first FONT birding & nature tour anywhere was in Chile back in November of 1990.

Here's a last mention, now, regarding some of the birds of the tour: 

As we were about to leave Santiago, and driving along the wide city boulevard, with grass and trees in the middle of the busy street, there were Southern Lapwings (even smack in the heart of the city, in front of the main government building), and there were Austral Thrushes, one after the other.

The Austral Thrush was very similar in its behavior to the American Robin, commonly in the city and towns. 
Also we have in North America, there were in central Chile: Mockingbirds, Blackbirds, and Meadowlarks. 
The Chilean Mockingbird is endemic to that country. 
The Blackbird, like the Thrush, has the adjective "Austral". 
The Long-tailed Meadowlark, quite unlike its North American counterpart, has a bright red breast.

The House Sparrow was the same as ours (and the same as that of Europe). 
In Chile, there are siskins rather than goldfinches. We saw both the Black-chinned Siskin and the Yellow-rumped Siskin. 
The only New World Sparrow is the Rufous-collared Sparrow (it occurs north into Central America).  
But in Chile, there's a wealth of finches: 
we saw Yellow-finches (2 species), Sierra-Finches (a few different species), and one finch with a rather odd name that's common, and so it's called the Common Diuca Finch. 

It was spring when we were in Chile, and thus the birds were singing. 
That Common Diuca Finch had one of the nicest of the songs we heard, providing yet another reason, among many, for us to enjoy our tour in Chile as we did.                          

The following link to the Birdlife International website:

www,savethealbatross.com

CHILE
November 2005

Link:

List of Birds during our Chile Tour - November '05

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour:

As part of the November 12-25, 2005 FONT Chile Birding & Nature Tour, there was, on November 14, a half-day pelagic Trip from Valparaiso. It was the 16th such pelagic trip for FONT. During most years, since 1990, this pelagic trip has been in November.

Over the years, many seabirds have been seen during this Valparaiso pelagic. Some years, the number of birds has been quite high, when there have been thousands of Sooty Shearwaters and thousands of phalaropes. This year, that was not the case, as the number of Sooty Shearwaters was small, and no phalaropes were seen. Some years, the waters of the Humboldt Current off Chile have been filled with seabirds that reside there exclusively. Species in that category include Guanay Cormorant and Peruvian Boobies. This year, numbers of both of those species seemed to be lower than usual.

Central Chile
November 2004

During our annual FONT birding tour in Chile, in November 2004, we conducted on November 15th our 15th pelagic trip to Humboldt Current waters offshore from Valparaiso.

Chile
November 2003

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour. 

Chile is a great place to see TAPACULOS, little birds that are generally skulkers. And we had the enjoyable experience to see some exceedingly well during our tour in November 2003.
The Moustached Turca (above) was nicely observed in the Andes near Santiago. In the moist forests of the Lake District of southern Chile, the calls of tapaculos resound, such as the Chucao Tapaculo (lower left) and the Black-throated Huet-Huet (lower right). We enjoyed very good looks at both of these, as well as the Magellanic Tapaculo and the Ochre-flanked Tapaculo, all in just about the same area of the forest. We had a 4-Tapaculo Morning! Not only heard but seen!
As were 2 Magellanic Woodpeckers flying by us.         

Many good birds were seen during our 2003 Chile tour. From Magellanic Plovers and other specialties on Tierra del Fuego, to a group of Peruvian Thick-knees in the very far-north of Chile (just a few kilometers from Peru). A Sparkling Violet-ear was also seen in far-northern Chile, calling atop a tree, as nearby there was a brightly-cinnamon Giant Hummingbird (the largest Hummingbird in the world).

Birds in areas geographically in between included pairs of Torrent Ducks along a raging stream and Andean Condors floating in the sky.  

Chile is very long country. From north to south, it is much like going along the north Pacific coast in reverse from Baja California to Alaska. 

The first international FONT birding tour was conducted in Chile in November of 1990. It was so good to be there again (for the 14th time) in 2003. 

As during every tour, there was not only wonderful landbirding, but also some great seabirding. We did 2 pelagic trips (one from Valparaiso and one from Arica in the far-north), in addition to traveling on 2 ferries across the Strait of Magellan. An account of our pelagics offshore from  Valparaiso and Arica follows.      

Birds during FONT Chilean pelagic trips in November 2003
An account written by Armas Hill.

2003 was a good year for us pelagically off the coast of Chile. While for some species numbers were not as high as they have been on occasion in the past, virtually all of the good variety of species this year were seen well. Off Valparaiso, out a little further and longer than other times, we enjoyed, with the sun behind us, good looks at the oceanic birds, including the albatrosses, close to the boat. The "chumming" brought the birds in. Some, such as Pink-footed Shearwaters, could nearly be touched at the edge of the boat. The oceanic waters off Arica were filled with fish (along with sea-lions and birds). So the "chumming" there was rather ineffective. One of the highlights of that trip was when a  Peruvian Diving-Petrel, on the water by our boat, moved in closer & closer as it seemed to be observing us!
  
In the following list of oceanic birds seen during our two pelagic trips, the red number relates to what was seen off Valparaiso (v), the blue number off Arica (a).

Humboldt Penguin  v:8, a:6
Black-browed Albatross/Mollymawk  v:15
Buller's Albatross/Mollymawk  v:1 or 2
Salvin's Albatross/Mollymawk  v:25, a:1
Gray-headed Albatross/Mollymawk  a: 1
Southern (or Antarctic) Giant-Petrel  v:5
Southern (or Silver-grey) Fulmar  v:1
Cape Petrel (or Pintado)  v:8
Juan Fernandez Petrel  v: 1 (possibly more)
DeFilippi's (or MasAtierra) Petrel  v:10
Thin-/Slender-billed Prion  v:3 
White-chinned Petrel  v:35, a:8
Westland (Black-) Petrel  v:4
Pink-footed Shearwater  v:30, a:4
Sooty Shearwaters  v:200, a:30
Wilson's Storm-Petrel  v:30, a:10 (possibly more)
Elliot's (or White-vented) Storm-Petrel a: 20-plus
Markham's Storm-Petrel a:2
Peruvian Diving-Petrel  v:1, a:10
Peruvian Pelican  v:100, a:many
Peruvian Booby  v:50, a:many
Blue-footed Booby  a:1 (rare in Chile)
Brown Booby a:1 (rare in Chile)
Guanay Cormorant  v:3, a: a few
Red-legged Cormorant  v:3 
Red (or Grey) Phalarope  v:25, a:1
Red-necked Phalarope  a:25 
Chilean Skua v:4
South Polar Skua a:1
Pomarine Jaeger a:1
Parasitic Jaeger  a:30
Gray Gull  a:many
Belcher's (formerly Band-tailed) Gull a:50
Kelp Gull v:dozens, a:1 or 2
Franklin's Gull  v:100 a:200
Laughing Gull a:1
Sabine's Gull a:1
South Amercian Tern  v:10 a:2
Common Tern v:1 (possibly more)
Arctic Tern  v:5 (probably more)
Elegant Tern  v:3, a:30
Sandwich Tern  a:1 (rare in Chile)
Inca Tern  v:20, a:100-plus

Peruvian (or Chilean) Pelican,  off Valparaiso, Chile

Upcoming Chile Birding Tours

Albatrosses & Other Chilean Seabirds

Birds during our Chile November 2003 Tour

Birds during previous Chile Tours (340 species)

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Chile : With Birds "Magellanic", "Austral" & "Patagonian"
November 2002

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour. 

"Magallanes" is the southernmost region of the long country of Chile, a country nearly 4,000 kilometers in length. It was one of various regions of the country that we visited during our Chile Birding Tour in November 2002. "Magallanes" is named, as is the Strait, for Ferdinand Magellan, who sailed the waters through the region in about 1520, as his ship circumnavigated the world. 

And a number of the world's most-southerly land and water birds, occurring in that region, are thus named, including these we encountered during our tour: Magellanic Penguin, Magellanic Diving-Petrel, Magellanic Flightless Steamer-Duck, Magellanic Oystercatcher, Magellanic Plover, Magellanic Woodpecker, Magellanic Tapaculo, and more. Some birds known by more-popular names also have alternate names "Magellanic", such as: the Upland Goose, also called "Magellan Goose", the Rock Cormorant, also called the "Magellan Shag", the Dolphin Gull, also called "Magellan Gull", and an owl, that used to be considered Great Horned, now "split" to be the "Magellan Horned Owl". 

All of these birds we saw well in southern Chile, many of them during a beautiful clear day, with a bright blue sky and distant snow-clad mountains across that Strait named after Magellan. The day could not have been better. The owl we saw full-frame in a telescope, as it sat on a ledge. The sun shone on the dusky gray bodies and the bright red bills and legs of the attractive Dolphin Gulls that were near us at the water's edge. Joining them  on the shoreline were skuas. Three close Chilean Skuas, lined in a row, with their orange hues in the sunlight, were also something to see.

The Dolphin, or Magellan, Gull

In the water, offshore, Magellanic Penguins swam. The previous day we had seen them walk, or more aptly put, waddle, at their breeding colony, from their burrows to a stone beach along the channel into which they dove to feed. 
Close to a rocky shore, the Magellan, or Rock, Cormorants also swam. Further offshore, from a ferry crossing the Strait, we watched Magellanic Diving-Petrels fly, with swift wing-beats just above the water's surface. And, yes, they did dive.  
On land, the Magellan, or Upland, Geese were scattered about in pairs on fields, the males black & white, the females rusty-brown. They, and their attractive kin, the Ashy-headed Geese, and their rare cousin, the Ruddy-headed Goose, also occur on Tierra del Fuego. Magellanic Oystercatchers, with their young, gave whistling calls. Steamer-Ducks, that don't fly, were along the shore of the Strait. Steamer-Ducks, that do fly, were on a lake, where also a flock of Coscoroba Swans fed in unison, all-white birds with pink bills. Mostly white were the Chilean Flamingos with them, young birds not yet as pink overall as they later would be as adults. The flamingos had just arrived on Tierra del Fuego, having migrated from the Andes to the north.
But of all the birds we saw named "Magellanic", maybe the best was the rare Magellanic Plover (that's really, by the way, not a "plover"). Kind of chubby, yet attractive, with a soft-gray and white coloration, with short pink legs, and pink eyes, the birds can be inconspicuous when standing against shingle. But during November, their breeding time, when they move, they're fun to watch, doing a circling "dance" that's kind-of-a land-version of a phalarope's spin on the water. They can also act rather like a turnstone, turning over stones as they feed. When they have their young, it's interesting that Magellanic Plover adults are unique among shorebirds in that they feed their offspring by regurgitation.
Soft-gray & pink Magellanic Plovers, like the darker gray and red Magellan, or Dolphin, Gulls, only occur in southernmost South America.

During a drive, along a hilly coastal road on Tierra del Fuego, by the Strait of Magellan, in addition to many of the occurrences just noted, we were treated to some bonuses. As a Guanaco stood on a hilltop, and an Andean Condor flew toward us at nearly eye-level, offshore on the surface of the water, there must have been thousands of fish, as there were on the water, at a few places, and above in the sky, thousands of birds. Most apparent were Albatrosses, the Black-browed, also called "Mollymawks". In one area, there were certainly over a thousand, both on the water and in flight. Also numerous were silver-gray Southern Fulmars, Kelp Gulls, South American Terns, and Chilean Skuas. There were hundreds of skuas in the frenzy with the other seabirds, that probably also included many penguins on and under the water's surface.

"Magellanic" was not the only adjective given again & again to birds during our Chile tour. In the forested land of the Magellanic Woodpecker and Magellanic Tapaculo, there were a number of birds named "Austral". That word means "southerly", and it's the name of a Thrush, a Blackbird, and a Parakeet (each the southernmost of its kind in the Americas).

A nifty, dapper little bird, in the flycatcher family, that's conspicuous in the open country, and used to be called the Rufous-backed Negrito, is now called by some the Austral Negrito, by others, the Patagonian Negrito. 

"Patagonia" is a general name of the vast, open, mostly flat, countyside of southern Chile and Argentina. Other birds called "Patagonian", in that area, include: the Patagonian Mockingbird, Patagonian Yellow-Finch, and Patagonian Sierra-Finch. The small Brown-hooded Gull, superficially similar to a Bonaparte's, is also sometimes called the Patagonian Black-headed Gull.  

The birds, referred to above, were just some of those we enjoyed during the tour. Torrent Ducks and Moustached Turca were also among the favorites. Photographs of many of these southern South American birds are in our accompanying Photo Gallery. You may wish to take a look at some birds there "Magellanic", "Austral", "Patagonian", and others too. 

The "Top Birds", as voted by participants after our November 2001 Chile Tour, included:

 1 - Torrent Duck (Tremendous to watch in the swift current of a river. Both male & female were seen well. In fact, 2 males seemed to be courting a female.)

 2 - Andean Condor (At one place in the Andes, quite a few flew above us. One in flight, at eye-level, in Tierra del Fuego, was superb.)

 3 - Magellanic Penguin (At the colony in the Far-South, a great experience.)   

 4 - Black-browed Albatross (Close to us on the pelagic trip from Valparaiso. Also a nice number from the ferry across the Strait of Magellan, and a huge number feeding elsewhere on the Strait.)  

5 - Moustached Turca (Seen running crazily, 3 together, on a slope in the Andes, an odd-looking "Chicken-like" bird with an upright tail. Generally the most-visible of the tapaculos.)

 6 - Magellan Horned Owl (We watched it, as its yellow eyes watched us, from the shadows of a ledge. Our look was "as good as it gets" in a scope. But how was the bird's look at us thru those yellow eyes, so much stronger than ours? )        
 
 7 - Many-colored Rush-Tyrant (Small, but so colorful. "Siete Colores de la Laguna", that's, in Spanish, "7 colors, on the little bird by the lake".)

 8 - Cape Petrel (also called the "Pintado", a boldly-patterned black-and-white seabird that's impossible not to like when it's seen as we saw it, from our pelagic trip off Valparaiso.)

As many as 44 species of birds received votes in our ballots after the tour, with each participant voting for their own "Top Ten". 

A complete list of birds found during FONT Tours in Chile.         

Our first FONT tour in Chile was in November of 1990. We've been back annually since, as it is such a beautiful and varied country, easily enjoyed, and with birding that's "top notch". We look forward to going there again.

Future FONT Birding Tours in Chile & Argentina  

During our Chile Birding Tour, in October/November 2001, we conducted, on November 1st, our annual pelagic birding trip on the Pacific from Valparaiso - one of the best birding pelagics anywhere. Our first such FONT trip was back in November 1990. Our half-day pelagic in 2001 was again quite a success:

There were pelicans, petrels, penguins, and phalaropes. And more, much more.
4 species of Albatrosses were seen during the trip Black-browed, Gray-headed, Salvin's, and Buller's.
Shearwaters were numerous, both Pink-footed and Sooty.
Giant-Petrels and Diving-Petrels were seen well, Southern and Peruvian respectively. Storm-Petrels were Wilson's.
At our furthest point out, there were hundreds of birds close to our boat. Lots of pelicans and shearwaters. Nice numbers of albatrosses. From 40 to 50 Cape Petrels (or Pintados). Southern Fulmars flew nearly close enough for us to touch.